Matt Mattox obit

 Dancer Matt Mattox has died

He was not on the list.

Mattox was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and became a protégé of the legendary jazz dance pioneer Jack Cole, with whom he worked on Broadway in Magdalena: a Musical Adventure (1948). His other Broadway credits include creating the role of the Jester in the original production of Once Upon a Mattress (1959), and Harry Beaton in the 1957 revival of Brigadoon. Mattox also performed concert engagements with his own dance company. His brief career as a Broadway choreographer included Jennie and Say, Darling.

Mattox used his background in ballet technique to create his own technique for jazz dance. His jazz class was assembled in the progression of a ballet class, and he called his exercises "the barre". Mattox also specifically designed the exercises to relate to the combinations given at the end of his class. The positions, shapes, and qualities developed during the barre are visible within his own detailed and polished style.

Mattox had a higher profile as a specialty dancer in Hollywood musicals. His best-known film role is Caleb Pontipee in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but he was also a principal dancer in, among others, Yolanda and the Thief, The Band Wagon (Cyd Charisse's partner in the ballet sequence), Till the Clouds Roll By, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and There's No Business Like Show Business. In addition, Mattox was a regular guest on television variety shows, for which he choreographed as well as performed, including The Patti Page Oldsmobile Show," 1958-59.

One of the world's most influential teachers of jazz dance—or, as he called it, "freestyle dancing"—Mattox lived and worked in Perpignan, France. He formed a concert jazz dance company in 1975 in England and eventually brought it to France.

Filmography

Song of Norway

Featured Dancer (uncredited)

 1962 Arias and Arabesques (TV Movie)

 1960 Pepe

Dancer

 1957 Pinocchio (TV Movie)

Cat

 1956 The United States Steel Hour (TV Series)

Injun Joe

- Tom Sawyer (1956) ... Injun Joe

 1956 Hot Blood

Stephano - Dance Double (uncredited)

 1955 Guys and Dolls

Dancer (uncredited)

 1955 The Girl Rush

Specialty Dancer

 1955 The Ed Sullivan Show (TV Series)

Dancer - Cast of The Girl Rush

- The Girl Rush Show (1955) ... Dancer - Cast of The Girl Rush

 1954 There's No Business Like Show Business

Dancer (uncredited)

 1954 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Caleb Pontipee

 1953 Walking My Baby Back Home

Featured Dancer (uncredited)

 1953 The Band Wagon

Featured Dancer (uncredited)

 1953 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Chorus Boy (uncredited)

 1953 The Girl Next Door

Jeannie's Dance Partner (uncredited)

 1953 I Love Melvin

Dancing Football Player / Chorus Member (uncredited)

 1953 Call Me Madam

Dancer in 'The Ocarina' Number (uncredited)

 1953 The I Don't Care Girl

Featured Dancer (uncredited)

 1952 The Merry Widow

Dancer (uncredited)

 1952 Dreamboat

Man in Commercial (uncredited)

 1948 Words and Music

Dancer (uncredited)

 1948 Easter Parade

Dancer (uncredited)

 1947 Good News

Dancer (uncredited)

 1946 Till the Clouds Roll by

Dance Specialty (uncredited)

 1946 Easy to Wed

Dancer (uncredited)

 1946 Two Sisters from Boston

Dancer (uncredited)

 1946 The Harvey Girls

Townsman at Saloon (uncredited)

 1945 Yolanda and the Thief

Featured Dancer (uncredited)

 1945 Ziegfeld Follies

Chorus Boy (uncredited)

 1944 The Three Caballeros

Dancer - Brazilian Sequence (uncredited)

 1944 Hollywood Canteen

Dancer (uncredited)

 1944 Meet Me in St. Louis

Boy at Party (uncredited)

 1942 Born to Sing

Dancer (uncredited)

 1935 Carnival in Flanders